Primary Sources

Primary sources are an essential part of proving your thesis and supplying evidence. Primary sources include, diaries, political cartoons and newspaper articles from the time period/time of the event, speeches, interviews, letters, photographs and artifacts.Browse the sources below to find primary sources to support your research.

Annals of American HistoryThis database includes speeches, memoirs, historical accounts, images and multimedia from 1493- to present day.

﻿American Memory Project﻿This online collection from the Library of Congress includes primary sources on a variety of topics and time periods in American History.

Digital Public Library of AmericaThis resource includes primary and secondary sources (secondary sources are frequently scans of books). Limit your search by time period to get only primary sources.

Digital HistoryOnline collection of primary sources organized by time period.

ABC-CLIO DatabasesUse the limiters on the left-hand side under "Documents" to find primary source letters, speeches, etc. Also includes primary source images.